Kukla's Korner Hockey

“How are you going to get this No. 1 centre?” (Ray) Ferraro said to host Mitch Melnick on his afternoon TSN Radio 690 show. “What’s the plan to acquire one? What are your assets going to be to acquire one, because the guy’s not going to drop out of the sky. It’s not going to happen.”

One player who might bring a No. 1 centre in return is Carey Price — who was named to the Atlantic Division team for the NHL All-Star Game on Wednesday — but the 30-year-old goaltender already has a no-trade clause as part of his new eight-year, US$84-million contract that kicks in next season.

Five-and-a-half seasons into his job as Canadiens GM, Bergevin has yet to fill the team’s biggest need and has already traded away arguably his best player, P.K. Subban, and definitely his best prospect, Mikhail Sergachev. Yet there is still a big hole at the No. 1 centre position with Drouin posting 5-14-19 totals and a minus-17 in 37 games while winning only 40.3 per cent of his faceoffs. The Canadiens rank 29th in the NHL in offence, scoring an average of 2.52 goals per game.